THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! From Jay Asher, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Thirteen Reasons Why, comes a holiday romance that will break your heart, but soon have you believing in love again. . . . “A beautiful story of love and forgiveness.” —Stephen Chbosky, New York Times bestselling author of The Perks of Being a Wallflower Sierra’s family runs a Christmas tree farm in … Being a Wallflower
Sierra’s family runs a Christmas tree farm in Oregon—it’s a bucolic setting for a girl to grow up in, except that every year, they pack up and move to California to set up their Christmas tree lot for the season. So Sierra lives two lives: her life in Oregon and her life at Christmas. And leaving one always means missing the other.
Until this particular Christmas, when Sierra meets Caleb, and one life eclipses the other.
By reputation, Caleb is not your perfect guy: years ago, he made an enormous mistake and has been paying for it ever since. But Sierra sees beyond Caleb’s past and becomes determined to help him find forgiveness and, maybe, redemption. As disapproval, misconceptions, and suspicions swirl around them, Caleb and Sierra discover the one thing that transcends all else: true love.
What Light is a love story that’s moving and life-affirming and completely unforgettable.
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Good YA read about finding happiness and hope when things aren’t looking good. A wonderful holiday story with elements of romance and forgiveness.
What Light is a standalone, contemporary young-adult novel set during Christmastime. It’s hard not to compare the author Jay Asher’s previous work to this one, and just so you know, there’s no comparison. But What Light offers perspective and an inspiring message all its own. The themes incorporated in this story include self-forgiveness, allowing others to move on from their mistakes, second chances, and not casting judgment on others because you never know what you would do when confronted with similar stressors. Another thing of note in this novel was how tangible the Christmas holiday felt. The spirit of giving, winter weather, fresh Christmas trees, and candy cane hot chocolate flowing all around transported me to the setting pretty effortlessly. Overall, I liked What Light and I think all ages can learn some life lessons. Check it out!
My favorite quote:
“They didn’t even say thank you. Not once!”
“They missed the parade. They were frustrated.”
“Are you serious? You brought them a free tree!”
“I’m not doing this to earn a gold star. They had a little baby and they were probably tired. Missing the parade – misunderstanding or not – would be frustrating.”
“But you’re doing this with your own money on your own time…”
“So you would only do this if people tell you how awesome you are for it?” … “Just so you know, I am very aware of how mean they were about getting a free tree. I have to believe, though, that everyone is allowed a bad day.”
This book will open up your heart and fill it with warm fuzzies!
WHAT LIGHT is a really cute story that will put you in the Christmas spirit. I enjoyed Mr. Asher’s writing style and storytelling. I’ve read YA books before but this one is definitely geared toward the younger reader.
This is a well written YA book taking a look at all the many multi-faceted different relationships that we have in our lives. This is more than a love story between two high school seniors; it is a story about friendship and relationships over time and distance. I felt that the characters were well developed. I liked the maturity and “spunkiness” of the main character; Sierra. Sierra grew up on a Christmas tree farm in Oregon and has spent every year, that she can remember, in California from Thanksgiving until the day after Christmas, with her parents selling Christmas trees on their lot. Maybe having this life duality is what has molded Sierra into the person she is today. She isn’t one to jump to conclusions, or believe everything she hears, is loyal to her friends, and actually has meaningful discussions with her parental units. Sierra isn’t allowed to date any of the seasonal staff on the tree lot and hasn’t allowed herself to get attached to anyone in California (except her bestie Heather and her family) because she knows she has a limited amount of time there.
It was refreshing to read a YA book that has such strong central characters. Caleb is a boy that piques Sierra’s interest because he buys multiple Christmas trees from multiple sellers. His actions make Sierra want to find out why he does it. Her friend Heather tries to warn her off of him based on his “reputation”. The more Sierra sees Caleb though, the more she wants to figure out the puzzle.
I liked this story enough to make me want to read other books by this author.
3.5
Everything I wanted, cliches included, for a cute Christmas read.
I’m in a really big habit of not reading the synopsis before I check out or start reading a book. Imagine my surprise and delight to find out this was a Christmas book and I was reading in the right season!
The history of Sierra’s family is interesting. I can’t imagine what it would be like to split your time between two different states and two different sets of friends. It seems like it would be a fun and also sometimes frustrating way to live, but the characters in this book really make it work. Sierra is very content in her life and that makes the idea of the split living more tolerable, I think.
The biggest thing to learn from this book, because I’m the kind of person who likes to look for the little hidden lessons in each story I read, is that most people deserve a second chance in life. People are fallible, we make mistakes and sometimes they are huge, but a majority of people are inherently good and can evolve from these mistakes and be a better person even because of making them. The part that bothered me the most was how incredibly young Caleb was when he made his big mistake. Not that it wasn’t a horrifying mistake, but he was a kid…I feel like the town and people were incredibly harsh to be hanging on to something for that long.
I appreciated the generosity, both of Caleb in general and the generosity of spirit and forgiveness in Sierra when it came to Caleb. I love reading stories where the characters recognize each other’s flaws and are accepting of each other in spite of these flaws. It’s not a perfect world and there are no perfect people, families or couples.